


Pieces of a Clock That Lies Broken

by fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat



Series: The Phantom Chronicles [13]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020), The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Protective Julie Molina, Protective Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Shadowhunter AU, Time Loop, and kit, but it does get better, the tmi gang is here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29758419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat/pseuds/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat
Summary: "Julie!"Julie opened her eyes with a gasp. The first thing she noticed was Luke looking down at her terrified. The second thing she realized was that she wasn't in the same place she'd passed out before. And the third as she sat up..."Woah, woah, hey, Julie, are you okay? What happened?" Luke asked.This all felt too familiar.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (background), Clary Fray/Jace Wayland (background), Flynn & Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters & Carrie Wilson, Flynn/Carrie Wilson (Background), Julie Molina & Isabelle Lightwood, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood (background), Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood (background)
Series: The Phantom Chronicles [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079396
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Pieces of a Clock That Lies Broken

Julie moved to the side just as a knife flew past her, finding its target on the demon's empty eye socket. Julie used her seraph blade to stab it through its torso, watching it go up in flames.

"Beautiful execution, solid parabatai work," Flynn said, coming up beside her.

"And we're not done yet," Julie said, turning around so they were back to back.

Everyone was scattered around, each of them dealing with a different demon. They hadn’t been that busy in a while and Julie dreaded to find out that someone had opened a rift somewhere and this was only going to get worse. She was already tired enough, thank you very much.

There were arrows flying around them, clearing up the field to a satisfying extent, making their job down there easier. Julie sent her whip flying forward, dragging one of the demons away from Carrie only for Luke to step in and stab it. They were almost done.

With one last strike from Alex the final demon disappeared, splashing some ichor on the ground. He turned back to the others breathing heavily like they all were.

"Was that the last one?" he asked.

"It had to be," Luke said.

"You wanted more?" Carrie asked just as Reggie climbed down and walked over to them.

"I'd love to go take a shower actually," Alex said.

"That does sound nice, it’s" - Julie checked her phone - "2:48 am, we’re officially doing overtime."

"Great, let’s go," Luke said already eager to leave. "Jules, we have one verse to go to finish the-"

"It's 3 am!" Alex protested.

"Hush," Luke dismissed it, "this is important."

"Yeah, they’ve been at it for two weeks now," Reggie said.

"And it’s beautiful," Julie said, defending their song.

"I love you," Luke said, looking at her with a smile. Julie smiled back as she leaned in and kissed him.

"Adorable as always, can we-" Flynn started to say when they heard a piercing scream, making them all turn around. They looked around wildly, trying to find out what they’d missed when Reggie's eyes drifted to the sky.

"Well, that’s new," he said still looking up. They all followed his line of sight and saw a flying demon closing in on them. It wasn’t too big, but the teeth, tail and _wings_ didn’t give them much hope.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Alex said just as Reggie raised his bow again, ready to fire.

Before they could all get into formation though and figure out how on earth they were supposed to catch a flying demon, three arrows were fired at the same time from the building next to it, wounding its side and making it falter. A whip wrapped itself around its tail, holding it back as much as it could and then suddenly something, or well, _someone_ , came running from the roof of the building opposite of it, jumped and landed right on top of the demon stabbing it with a seraph blade. They jumped down just as the demon bursted into flames and landed on the ground in a crouch. Six floors. _Six_ floors.

"What just happened?" Carrie was the first to break the silence. Everyone still seemed speechless by how quick and effortlessly this had been handled.

"Wait, is that...?" Flynn squinted in the distance at the figure who was now standing up, when her face broke into a grin and she took off running towards them with a squeal.

Julie took a couple of steps forward trying to understand what was happening and she was able to spot the blonde hair just when Flynn jumped onto him, engulfing him in a hug.

"By the Angel," Julie said, suddenly grinning, especially when two more figures appeared out of the shadows. She took off running too with no other comment, going right to the woman on the side and wrapping her in a hug too. "Hi!" she said with a chuckle, still not sure what was going on. "You’re here! Why are you here? You didn’t say anything!"

"Flynn, I just dropped down six floors," Jace said even though he was smiling. Flynn untangled herself from him, still vibrating in place. Julie couldn’t stop herself from gathering Jace and Alec in a hug too.

"Oh, so you _are_ aware those were six floors? And you just free fell like it was nothing?" Alec said. "Hey, girls," he said to them with a smile.

"Relax, dude, pure angel blood, remember?" Jace said with a smirk just as the others finally came closer to find out what was happening.

"You never let us forget," Isabelle said with a smile.

"Do _you_ remember that you’re not twenty anymore?" Alec said.

"I remember that I’m younger than you," Jace offered with a shrug.

"Okay," Alec sighed.

"Chill, big brother, we got it," Isabelle said with a shrug.

"It's like looking in a mirror," Alex said quietly from beside Julie making her bite her lip to hide a smile.

"That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen," Flynn started saying, "you literally jumped on that thing and killed it mid air! I _love_ you." She looked at Jace right into his eyes.

"Aw, I’ve missed you, you always say the nicest things..." Jace said.

"Thank you," Flynn said clutching her chest and pulling Carrie closer to her. "This is Carrie, my girlfriend. She basically gets everyone to train around here. Jace trained me back in New York," she added, turning to her.

"Hi," Carrie said with a smile, "big fan."

"Thank you, maybe I should stay here where I’m appreciated," Jace said, pointedly looking at Alec. Alec didn’t even dignify him with a response.

"And Izzy trained me," Julie said with a smile. "Oh, do you know everyone? Luke, Alex, Reggie," she said pointing at the boys next to her.

"Of course, we’ve heard the best." Isabelle smiled.

"So, what _are_ you doing here? Not that we’re not excited to have you," Julie said.

"Looking for a warlock," Jace said, "we think he might be around here..."

"Oh God, is he the one who opened the rift? We’ve been running around like crazy for the past couple of days!" Flynn groaned.

"The demons are probably a distraction," Alec said, "are they concentrated in one place?"

"Not really, it’s been kind of crazy," Alex said.

"He's moving," Isabelle said.

"Should we be worried?" Luke asked.

"Well, no more than usual," Jace said with a shrug. "We looked around the area, everything seemed pretty quiet, I think we're good to go."

"Yeah, we'll call everyone to come tomorrow, we can pick this up in the morning," Alec said.

"Wait, everyone?" Julie asked. "Who else is coming?"

* * *

Julie woke up excited. Well, the warlock-releasing-demons part wasn’t the best, but she hadn’t seen everyone else in so long and she’d missed them.

Luke stirred beside her, nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck. "Hi," he whispered.

"Hey," she said, "let’s go find the others."

"But we just woke up," he whined quietly. "We don’t spend any time together anymore."

"Baby, we live together, we work together, we literally spend 98% of our time together," Julie said with a smile.

"Yeah, but we’re not _alone_ together for most of it," he said with a pout. "I'm not saying become codependent, but we also live with at least ten other people. How much of that 98% has been _just_ the two of us lately?"

And well, Julie couldn’t really argue with that one. It was good that they weren’t solely focused on each other all the time, she wouldn’t want to put everyone else to the side and Luke didn’t either, but it’d been a while since they'd had some time together alone.

"We can always take some time off after we’re done with the warlock situation," she said, "we do have a wedding to plan."

"I have so many ideas."

"Is one of them about who’s going to give you away?"

"No, we do not talk about that," Luke said making her chuckle. Ever since they’d announced that they’d gotten engaged a month ago, Alex and Reggie had been unofficially competing about who got to be his suggenes. So far, Luke had been pretending it wasn’t happening.

"You can just flip a coin you know, make it fair for everyone," she said.

"I can’t flip a coin, I need to think this through. Whom does Flynn want to look at?"

Julie started laughing. "This is how you think this through?"

"I'll just ask her," he said with a shrug.

"You'll probably get Carrie as your suggenes."

Luke considered it for a second. "That would solve so many problems..."

She smiled. "Okay, come on," she said and patted his arm as she sat up, "we have guests."

Luke did miraculously got up and they both got ready and went downstairs to the kitchen. It was especially noisy and crowded today once they stepped in. Carrie was talking animatedly with Jace on the one end of the table - probably weaponry related - while Alex was taking things out of the fridge, Alec helping him make breakfast.

"I can help, you know," Izzy said from where she was watching them from the other side of the table.

"We shouldn’t burn down a friendly Institute, Iz," Jace said.

"You’re not funny," she said.

"He's not lying either," Alec said.

"You set the kitchen on fire once and suddenly you can't be trusted..." Izzy said with a scowl.

"I know, right?" Luke agreed.

"It was six times," Alec deadpanned.

"So maybe it was, so what?" Izzy raised her hands in the air. "Simon likes my cooking." Jace and Alec made vague sounds of agreement that sounded way too fake, just as Reggie and Flynn joined them.

"Say, Flynn," Luke started seemingly out of nowhere, "if you had to stare at someone for like half an hour, would you choose Alex or Reg?"

"Are you for real?" Alex turned to look at him.

"Don't try to pass the decision over to someone else," Reggie said.

"Don't bring me into this..." Flynn sighed tiredly as she sat down next to Carrie.

"What? It’s a valid question!" Luke defended.

"It’s a stupid question," Alex said.

"Guys, it’s too early for this..." Julie said with a sigh.

"Tell that to your boyfriend who’s trying to get out of this," Alex said.

"Hey!" Luke protested. "It’s _your fiancé_ who’s trying to get out of this."

"Can we leave all the nonsense until after we have guests over?" Carrie interjected.

"Yeah, like we haven’t had our fair share of nonsense," Isabelle said with a chuckle. " _She’s so perfect, Izzy, I’m gonna marry her. He’s so dreamy, Iz, I’m gonna marry him_ ," she said exaggeratingly gushing.

"Both conversations that never happened," Alec said with an eye roll.

"You get the gist." Izzy chuckled. "Ray told us about the engagement, congratulations," she added to Julie and Luke with a smile. "If you need any help, I’m here for you."

"Thank you," Julie said just as they heard a portal forming and turned around to see Clary and Simon coming through.

"Good morning," Clary said cheerfully. "Hey, you guys! Long time no see!"

"Simon, babe, tell them my cooking has improved," Isabelle said.

"Uh... Can I get a cup of coffee first? I literally woke up twenty minutes ago and I really don’t want to say something dumb," he said.

"Great start." Jace held a thumbs up for him.

"Shut up," Simon said tired as he went in for the cup Alec was holding out for him.

"Is this our future?" Reggie whispered to Luke making Julie snort.

"So, the warlock?" she asked, trying to get everyone back on track.

"Yes, so he’s been-" Alec started to say when a second portal opened up and Magnus Bane showed up to complete the group.

"I'm here, what is up, Shadowhunters?" he said as he walked into the kitchen like he owned the place.

"We found him, he’s here," Alec said.

"Great, we get this over with today and we can totally be back home before Max and Rafe tear the loft down," he said nonchalantly.

"They've grown up, they won't tear the loft down," Alec said, making both Jace and Isabelle snort.

"I love your optimism and the faith you have in our children, Alexander, but I've also lost count of how many times I've had to put your bow back together, so let's just keep our expectations low right now," Magnus said. "How is everyone?" He turned to Julie and the others.

Everyone started talking, voices overlapping for the next few seconds. Magnus looked at them, nodding his head, probably having gotten none of it. "Okay then. Julie, Luke, congratulations for your engagement, might I suggest the beach for the wedding? It worked great last time," he said with a smile.

"Well, we're still trying to figure out some other details first, but when we're at that part we'll definitely consider it," Julie said.

"So, the warlock," Alex was the one to get the conversation back on track this time.

"Yes," Alec agreed, "he started out from New York and we'd been trying to track him for the past three days. We followed the demons last night hoping we would get to him, but we found you instead."

"Yeah, thanks for that because that thing was flying," Flynn pointed out.

"Nah, you had it, but we were closer, we couldn't say no," Jace said.

"I would not have dropped six floors," she said.

"You dropped _six floors_?" Clary turned to him, her eyes wide.

"In my defense," Jace held a hand out, "I've done way worse with way less."

"How is that your defense?" she asked exasperated.

" _Anyway_ ," Isabelle interjected before they could get off subject again, "he'd been raising demons back home, using them for whatever he wants and then letting them run amok..."

"Mundanes and Downworlders almost died and just as we were closing in on him he disappeared," Alec said. "Don't know what he's doing here and not really eager to find out, so we should really get this over with before it escalates."

"Okay, so do we start off from where we were yesterday?" Julie asked.

"I’m gonna have a talk with your High Warlock, see if we can narrow it down," Magnus said.

"Great, so we split up and go from there," Isabelle said. "Can we eat now? I’m starving."

They quickly ate breakfast and started getting ready. Magnus left to go meet Fuego while the others put on their gear and started gathering their weapons.

"All I’m saying is that Reggie's great, but you’re going for responsible here and that’s _my_ middle name," Alex said as he, Luke and Reggie joined her in the lobby.

"Hey!" Reggie protested. "Just because I don’t tell him when to go to sleep doesn’t mean I’m not responsible. Do _not_ make me say it."

"Say what?" Luke asked.

Alex gasped. "You wouldn’t."

"Try me."

"Woah, guys, if you’re going to actually fight about it-" Julie started to say, worried that tensions were rising.

"Oh, no, no, Jules, we're not fighting," Reggie hurried to say with a reassuring smile. "We'll be fine with either decision."

"Yeah, don’t worry, we just have two core arguments we'll keep repeating until he makes a decision," Alex said, grinning as well.

"Which are?" Julie asked.

"That _I_ can make sure the wedding goes as planned," Alex said.

"And _I_ have never had my tongue down the groom's throat," Reggie added.

Julie bit her lip, trying not to laugh. "I'm gonna leave and let you figure this out," she said as she started walking away towards Flynn and Jace.

"No, don't leave me alone with them!" she heard Luke in the background, but this was something he needed to do. At least in the near future.

"You threw your fiancé to the wolves?" Flynn asked as soon as she approached them.

"Alex and Reggie are not wolves, they're like puppies at best," Julie said with a smile. "And I know it's hard, but he needs to make a choice."

"Ah, weddings..." Jace said with a wistful sigh. "You know, when I first asked Clary to marry me she said no."

"So did Julie," Flynn said with a snort.

"Well, he didn't actually propose, it was just mentioned a few times throughout the past four years," Julie said. "In the end _I_ asked him."

"So did Clary," Jace said with a smile just as Kit came from the library. "Christopher!" he said excited. Kit turned to look at him, his face a mix of desperation and exasperation. "How is my third favorite Herondale?"

"I don't know if I should get offended on my own that I'm third on the list or if I should call Nick so that we can talk about you behind your back that you put yourself first," he said. "Also, don't call me Christopher. Do I call you Jonathan?"

"You really shouldn't, it would make things weird," Jace said.

"Stop calling me Christopher!" he said.

"Family, am I right?" Jace turned to the girls with a wistful smile, making Kit roll his eyes as he crossed his arms in front of him.

"Julian said you’re here looking for a warlock?" Kit asked.

"Yep, we're getting ready to leave," he said.

"You need any backup? Ty and Dru have been in Idris for the past two days and I’m bored out of my mind, I really need to get out of the Institute," he said.

" _Another_ Herondale out in the field? How can I say no to that?" Jace said with a grin.

"God, I’m going to regret this..." Kit shook his head with a sigh. "I’ll be right back." He took off upstairs to get ready.

"He seems excited," Julie said with a chuckle.

"He loves me," Jace said with confidence.

"Why would you leave me alone with these two?" Luke demanded as he joined them, Alex and Reggie following.

"They are your best friends?" Julie looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I’m pretty sure they like making my life difficult," Luke said, looking at them pointedly.

"Isn’t that what best friends do?" Alex said, amused.

"No!" Luke said.

They all eventually gathered up and split up in different areas where the demon attacks had been spotted during the past few days. Julie was partnered with Flynn and Isabelle and they quickly left for an area near the latest episodes.

They were looking around, staying glamoured in between the many mundanes on the street, making it even harder to spot the warlock. He wasn’t going to open a rift in the middle of the day - hopefully - but he could still be somewhere close. Until Magnus and Fuego knew something more, there wasn’t anything more they could do.

They scoured the whole area, walking even further until they eventually ended meeting up with Alex, Carrie and Alec who had also been unsuccessful. Alex didn't look as bummed as he did excited that he was actually getting to work with Alec.

"Do we know if anyone else has had any more luck?" Carrie asked.

"Nothing yet," Flynn said, checking her phone. "What about Magnus?" She turned to Alec.

"Nothing from him either," he said with a sigh. "We can’t lose him again."

"There’s no point in aimlessly going around either until we know something more..." Isabelle said. "We just need to stay close."

"We can meet up with the others at the bar," Julie offered. "We’re close, are they open?"

"Bar?" Isabelle asked.

"The werewolves' bar," Alex said. "They are getting product shipments today, they must have been opened for a while now."

"Are we sure the werewolves want six Shadowhunters hanging out in their bar?" Isabelle asked.

"We hang out over there all the time," Flynn said as they started walking.

"Also it will probably be just Willie, Leah and maybe a couple more members of the pack," Alex said.

"And the context I’m apparently missing?" Isabelle asked.

"Oh, yeah, I’m dating their Alpha, punched a guy once, became really popular within the pack," Alex said.

"Yeah, that’s the short version," Carrie said with a snort.

"I would honestly love to hear the long version," Alec said. And Alex had never really been good at praising himself, so the girls joined in with details every time he’d brush over something.

They eventually got there, Alex ducking his head in, the others following. Willie was standing behind the bar talking to Leah about something, when he noticed the sudden surge of Shadowhunters in their place.

"Hey!" he said with a smile. "A little too early to start drinking isn’t it?"

"You don’t even give us alcohol when it’s late," Carrie said.

"Just you and Luke, not after last time," Willie said.

"You cause a diplomatic episode with the Faerie once..." Carrie muttered.

"What?" Alec asked.

"What?" the four younger Shadowhunters all repeated playing dumb.

Isabelle just chuckled. "Hi, I’m Isabelle, I hear you hang out with Shadowhunters over here."

"Ah, well, you know how it goes, you fall in love with one, then he punches a guy and suddenly the pack is on board," Willie said with a smile. "I’m Willie by the way."

"I don’t like that my pinnacle moment was punching a mundane, it makes me sound violent," Alex said as he sat on one of the stools.

"You should, we all loved it, we talk about it often," Leah said as she grabbed a box full of bottles and went inside.

"That’s just great," Alex said with a still smile. "Anyway, can we wait for the others here? The search came up empty."

"Well, you slept at the Institute last night, so I think the least you can do is wait here," Willie said.

"The hardships I put you through," Alex said amused with an eye roll as he leaned in and kissed him.

They settled down around the bar, waiting for the others so they could regroup and carry on from there. Izzy was telling Julie about Alec and Magnus' wedding and how they should definitely consider the beach during the summer and also that she had just the shoes for her to wear with her wedding dress - which Julie still had no idea what it was going to even look like.

"I’m guessing Flynn will be your suggenes, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," Julie said with a smile looking over to where she, Carrie and Alex were talking with Alec.

"Has Luke chosen between them yet?" Willie asked.

"No... I believe the answer will come to him a day before the wedding," she said.

"There's no way Alex is letting him wing this," he said with a chuckle.

"Look, they’ve both made their cases," Julie said, "it’s up to Luke now. We'll take some time off, we'll figure things out."

The door suddenly bursted open and Kit came over to them, sitting begrudgingly beside Isabelle. "I’ve made a mistake."

"Was it something I said?" Jace asked as he followed inside with Luke.

"Will you stop annoying the poor guy?" Isabelle told him. Jace raised his hands defensively and jumped on the seat next to Alec. "Don't be too harsh on him," she added to Kit more quietly. "He’s excited to be around other Herondales, there’s only three of you."

Kit grumbled something between a whine and a groan. "I appreciate the family part. But he keeps calling me Christopher."

"Chaos," Luke said next to Julie.

"See? And that’s coming from Luke," Kit said.

"Hey!" Luke said. Julie wrapped her arm around his waist, leaning against his side. "Hi." He looked down at her softly with a smile.

"Hi." Julie smiled back.

The trance was broken when the door opened one last time and their group was completed with Reggie, Clary and Simon. Were Julie and Luke really just as bad as their friends said when they were together?

They didn’t hear from Magnus until early afternoon. He and Fuego had managed to get a general location to where they were already headed. It wasn’t far from where the bar which was great because they wanted to get this done with as soon as possible, but also not really great because, well, people. It was still early, only 4 pm, but the sun would set in a couple of hours and even though there were far more of them, they could do without the demons this time.

They split up in larger groups this time, patrolling around the area. Time was going by and they were slowly closing in, but still nothing. Julie wasn’t even a hundred percent certain what they were looking for.

"Are we sure this is the right place?" Julie asked when the sun was only just setting in the distance.

"That’s what Magnus said," Clary said from beside her, "maybe we were just too late."

"We can’t carry on like this though!" Isabelle said. "He could portal anywhere in the city if we don’t get there in time, we need to narrow it down more."

"We can always wait for the next demon surge that’s bound to happen in a couple of hours or so," Luke offered. "He could be near."

"Let’s keep this as a backup idea," Julie said.

"Maybe we should-" Isabelle started saying when her phone rang. "Tell me you found him," she answered. "Fuck, okay, we’re on our way," she said and hung up. "They found where the magical energy is coming from, come on," she told them and they all rushed away.

They had only just taken a left, moving between two buildings and over to a less populated street when a pang went through Julie's head. She came to an abrupt stop with a hiss, her hand flying to her head.

"Julie? What’s wrong?" she heard Luke's voice.

"I don’t know, something-" she tried to say, but the sudden blinding pain going through her head prevented her from finishing her sentence.

She thought she might have screamed, she honestly wasn’t sure what was going on around her. All she could feel was her head pounding and then the sweet relief that came with her passing out.

* * *

"Julie!"

The first thing Julie saw when she opened her eyes was Luke looking down at her terrified. The second thing she realized was that she felt fine. Whatever the hell that had been before, it was all gone now.

She sat up, Clary and Isabelle coming into view as well.

"Woah, woah, hey, Julie, are you okay? What happened?" Luke was freaking out next to her.

"I have no clue," she said, still confused.

"You passed out!" Luke exclaimed.

"Yeah, no, I noticed that," she said. "I don’t know what happened."

"You feel tired? Dizzy?" Clary asked.

"I... no, I’m fine. Wait how long was I out for?"

"Less than a minute," Isabelle said.

"Oh, okay, that’s good, we should get going," she said, moving to get up with Luke fussing next to her and trying to help even though she really was fine.

"Get going where? You passed out, Julie!" Luke said.

"But there’s nothing wrong with me, I’m fine!" she tried to say again.

"People don’t just pass out when they’re fine," he insisted.

"It was probably just a migraine," she said even though she was well aware this was not a migraine. What the hell was that?

"That was _not_ a migraine," Luke said, clearly on the same boat as her, but they really needed to get going. She was fine, what more could they do?

"Maybe Magnus can look you over," Isabelle said.

"Great, let’s get the warlock and then I’m doing a checkup," Julie said as they started walking, faster this time.

"Julie," Luke started to say, uncertain as well. She knew she didn’t look like anything was wrong with her and it wasn’t like they could just leave her behind. No, Julie would get the job done and then figure out what had just happened.

"If I start feeling anything weird you’ll be the first one to know and I’ll pull back," she reassured him. It’s not like she wanted to get herself killed either. Luke obviously didn’t like any of it, but he relented for now and followed.

"Wait," Isabelle suddenly stopped them. Julie looked over at her, seeing her necklace burn a bit brighter. She had just enough time to unwrap her whip before the first demon hit. Well, at least they were in the right place.

Julie was ready to fight, whip in hand, only she had no opening because Luke was everywhere around her taking care of the problem before there even was one. Truth is, she could say she was fine, but she _had_ just passed out for no apparent reason and this was one of those moments where Luke remembered he didn’t need any help taking out four demons one after the other if the situation called for it.

Soon enough though the problem called for more attention as the demons started increasing and Julie finally jumped into action. She was slicing through the creatures when one of them was hit with some form of light and bursted into flames on its own. Julie turned around and almost breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Magnus and Fuego as well as most of the rest of them.

Things ran pretty smoothly from then on, everyone working together and taking the demons out. Just as the last one disappeared, they all gathered up.

"He must be somewhere close, he’s trying to keep the rift open," Magnus said. "Great work if I might add, it took us ages to find him."

"It also means more demons could be on their way, so we should probably hurry," Fuego added.

They headed the same way the demons were coming from, Luke still checking on Julie every now and then.

"Is everything okay?" Alex asked probably spotting his restlessness.

"Yes," Julie answered at the same time Luke said, "Julie passed out."

"What?" Reggie almost stopped and looked at her alarmed from her other side.

"I am fine, probably just a headache from being tired or something," she tried to dismiss it again, but if she couldn’t make it work with one phantom, she’d definitely not be able to do it with three.

"People don’t just pass out from headaches!" Alex said.

"Can we focus and deal with this later?" she said. "Flynn didn’t realize anything was wrong, she seems fine, which means it probably wasn’t that important anyway."

"I seriously doubt this is how you should go about assessing the situation," Reggie said.

"I think-" she started to say when another hellish scream was heard.

"We'll take care of the demons, just go ahead, find him," Clary said as she, Simon and Izzy stayed back. Carrie and Flynn joined them and the rest of them carried on towards the commotion.

"Will you stop looking at me like I might break?" Julie pleaded with the guys.

"I don't know, can you guarantee that you won't?" Alex asked. And Julie really would have shot back with a _yes, I'm fine_ , but she still had no idea what that had been before and she'd hate to prove herself wrong.

She didn't have to answer when she caught a demon about to jump out of the shadows. She lashed her whip forward, wrapping it around it and bringing it back toward Luke who already had a seraph blade out, killing it effectively. She preferred that to talking about her health.

"It's here!" Fuego shouted and they all rounded the corner to find the reason why demons were suddenly swarming the city. 

Now, Julie knew a lot about Edom. She'd read all the books she was supposed to, she'd been paying attention to her tutors when they'd taught them about demons and different realms and maybe she didn't retain every little piece of information like Reggie did, but she definitely knew the basics. She'd also fought a lot of demons in her twenty two years of life, there was little that could actually surprise her.

What she'd never seen before though was the actual thing. The rift was standing right there in front of them like a hole on the ground. A hole that led to darkness only illuminated by the flames surrounding different parts around it. She could see creatures roaming in the distance, some of them getting closer, trying to get out, others oblivious to their presence. She suddenly had so many more questions about how the residents of the New York Institute had actually survived down there and then come back to the real world like it was nothing. Well, it definitely was _something,_ but she always thought they sounded so casual about it.

"We'll close it but he has to be near," Magnus said. They all nodded as they spreaded out, while the two warlocks worked on closing the rift.

Kit and Alec stayed back to cover them in case more demons escaped, while Julie, Jace and the guys started going through the abandoned buildings, looking for any signs of the warlock before it was too late.

Julie was rushing down the street when she tripped on some rubble, catching herself before she could fall. It didn't fail to attract three worried glances and Luke right next to her. And really, Julie loved that they cared - and she would probably be just as bad if it was the other way round - but they needed to stay focused on the task at hand.

"I just tripped," she said before Luke could say anything. He still looked at her with worry, not leaving her side. "Luke, I promise you, I'm-" she started to say when a glint caught her eye in the building opposite of them. She focused more, watching it carefully until she could see someone clearly moving. "He's there!" she said, keeping her voice low as not to alert him of their presence.

Luke followed her eyeline, able to make out the movement and they both moved in to gather the others. They zeroed in on him and tried to keep quiet. It wasn't until they crossed the building's treshold that his head snapped up and Julie had just enough time to see his hand moving towards them before an invisible force had her and everyone else flying all the way back out. Julie heard multiple groans around her just as they all started getting up.

Julie sat up just in time to see the warlock coming back out, doing some complicated hand movement that wasn't going to end well for them. Everyone scrambled to get up before they could be hit with anything more, knowing it was probably futile, when Magnus appeared behind them.

"Oh no you don't," Julie heard him say just as he moved his own hands, blue sparks swirling around and shot them out just in time to counteract the other warlock's spell.

Julie was about to breathe in relief that they'd at least bought some time and they now had a warlock on their side too, but the second the spells colided, they all felt a hit, the force even greater than the one before. Julie was once again thrown back, but instead of the sharp pain of hitting the ground or even a wall, she felt the same blinding pain in her head as before.

She was certain she hit the ground, but the pain from that was nothing compared to her head trying to explode. She didn't even had time to scream before she once again passed out.

* * *

"Julie!"

Julie opened her eyes with a gasp. The first thing she noticed was Luke looking down at her terrified. The second thing she realized was that she wasn't in the same place she'd passed out before. And the third as she sat up...

"Woah, woah, hey, Julie, are you okay? What happened?" Luke asked.

This all felt too familiar.

Clary and Isabelle were looking at her equally worried and the others were nowhere to be found. No warlock, no demons, nothing. 

"What happened?" she asked confused.

"You passed out!" Luke said, freaking out.

"Yeah, no, I noticed that," she said, her own words sounding familiar to her. "Where are the others?"

"We were getting to them," Clary said. "You feel tired? Dizzy?"

"Didn't we..." Julie started out confused. "How long was I out for?"

"Less than a minute," Isabelle said.

Julie looked around her confused once again. They couldn't have cleared out that quickly and this was definitely not where she'd passed out last time. It _was_ where she'd passed out at first... Why would they bring her back here?

"Did we get him?" she asked, trying to make sense of everything.

"We haven't found the others yet..." Isabelle said and they all glanced at each other, worried. Julie wanted to reassure them but she had no idea what was going on in her head either. She clearly remembered meeting up with everyone else, finding the rift and getting hit a second time. Had that all been in her head? Wasn't that a bit far-fetched?

"Should we get going?" she said.

"Get going? You passed out, Julie!" Luke said.

"No, I think I'm fine," she said.

"People don’t just pass out when they’re fine," Luke insisted.

"It was probably just a migraine," she said without even meaning to. It'd been a spell. She clearly remembered getting hit by a spell and being in pain.

"That was _not_ a migraine," Luke said.

"Maybe Magnus can look you over," Isabelle said.

"Have we had this conversation before? The first time I passed out," Julie said.

"What first time?" Luke asked.

"Before..." Julie looked at him, her brows furrowing. 

"Okay, I think we should get back to the Institute," he said, looking back at Clary and Izzy who were ready to agree.

"No! No, I'm fine, really," Julie hurried to say as she got up, trying to prove that she was indeed fine. Something felt fuzzy in her head, but other than that she was fine.

"Julie," Luke started to say, really not on board with the idea.

"Magnus can look me over after we're done here," she said. "If I start feeling anything weird I’ll pull back, we need all the help we can get here."

Luke obviously didn't like the idea, but she was right and they needed to hurry anyway. They eventually started walking again, Luke staying glued to her side, while Julie tried to put things in order. Had she just dreamed about everything else? Was it a weird hallucination in her head while she'd been unconscious? How did she even remember that whole conversation then?

"Wait," Isabelle suddenly stopped and Julie was already unwrapping her whip and lashing it forward before the demon had even appeared. She pulled it back surprised. She hadn't even realized they were being surrounded. They all went into action until everyone else joined and they took them all down. As soon as things calmed down, they all gathered up.

"He must be somewhere close, he’s trying to keep the rift open," Magnus said. "Great work if I might add, it took us ages to find him."

"It also means more demons could be on their way, so we should probably hurry," Fuego added. Julie looked in between them, trying to spot anyone acting different, acting as if this made a bit more sense to them, but she came up empty.

"Is everything okay?" Alex asked as they headed the same way the demons were coming from.

"Julie passed out," Luke said.

"What?" Reggie shouted.

"You all don't find any of this weird?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"You passing out for no reason? I find it a bit weird," Alex said.

"No, this whole thing, it's just..." She groaned trying to find the right words. "Flynn didn't feel anything so I'm probably fine."

"I seriously doubt this is how you should go about assessing the situation," Reggie said at the same time Julie did.

The guys all looked at her with wide eyes.

"How did you do that?" Reggie asked.

"I think-" she started to say when another hellish scream was heard.

"We'll take care of the demons, just go ahead, find him," Clary said joined by Simon and Izzy. Carrie and Flynn stayed back as well. No, this was definitely a deja vu moment.

"Why did you know what Reggie was going to say?" Alex asked.

"Because something about all of this is familiar and I can't understand what!" Julie said, willing everything to make sense.

She suddenly lashed her whip forward, wrapping it around a demon in the shadows and brought it back toward Luke who already had a seraph blade out, killing it effectively. How the hell did she even know that was there?

"It's here!" Fuego shouted and they all rounded the corner to find the rift.

"We'll close it but he has to be near," Magnus said. 

_He_ is _near_ , Julie thought. Without even thinking about it, she rushed toward one particular building on their right.

"Julie?" she heard Luke calling her, almost tentatively. She couldn't really blame him, even _she_ didn't know what she was doing.

"He's here," she said pointing at the building. "I don't know how I know, but he is here."

"Good enough for me," Jace said, taking the lead.

They walked forward keeping quiet and Julie figured this wasn't the same with what had happened in her head, so she didn't say anything when they crossed the building's treshold. Which proved to be a mistake since his head snapped up and she was once again knocked back by an invisible force. How many times was she going to get knocked down today?

She sat up just in time to see the warlock coming back out about to throw another spell at them. No, no this was all too specific to be fucking random nonsense in her head. No, next thing she knows, Magnus is gonna show up.

Just in time she heard the, "Oh no you don't."

She saw the blue sparks dancing around in his hands and had enough common sense to shout a warning this time. "It's going to backfire!"

Magnus glanced at her confused, but he was pulled right back into action when the other warlock fired a spell and Magnus moved to block it. Okay, yeah, that was different, that was good.

"Would you mind giving up? I think you're outnumbered," Magnus said.

"That sounds like fun, but don't you have a rift to close? Your friends sound like they need help," the warlock said. And it was true, Julie could hear the demons only a few feet away and Fuego couldn't close the rift on his own. 

"Let's not keep them waiting then," Magnus said, blue sparks surrounding his hands once again.

He threw a spell his way, the warlock blocking it effectively. Julie and the guys joined in the fight, careful not to get hit by the spells coming and going between them, trying to get close to the warlock. It wasn't until he was blocking again that Julie found an opening and lashed her whip forward catching one of his hands, hoping to at least buy Magnus some time so he could knock him out. If there was one thing she knew was that a warlock needed their hands to do magic.

Magnus didn't waste any time, taking advantage of it and with one last graceful, almost dance like move of his hands, he sent a spell towards his head, knocking him out. Julie brought her whip back, all of them already running back to the others.

"He'll stay unconscious at least until we're done," Magnus said. "How did you know?" He turned to Julie.

"Know what?" she asked.

"That the spells we're going to backfire."

"I..." Julie trailed off, not sure what to say. "Gut feeling?" she offered.

They didn't have much time to talk about it when they stood in front of the closing rift, demons still going around, some of them escaping. They got to work, Magnus joining Fuego in his effort to close it up once and for all.

Seraph blades were flying around the place, demons were catching on fire and Julie was feeling normal for the first time in a while. Whatever freak thing had happened to her before it had probably just been in her head. Who knew why she'd reacted like that after passing out...

She turned to find Luke cornered and moved closer to help. The rift was almost closed, so they should be almost done. She wrapped her whip around the demon closer to Luke, pulling back and putting just enough force to tear it to pieces. Luke worked on the other one in front of him, jamming his seraph blade in its torso. 

Julie smiled at him. This was probably not what normal couples did together, but Julie thought they worked pretty well as a team. Luke smiled back.

"We are taking a whole week off," he said, coming closer and keeping his blade ready. "Let everyone else deal with the chaos for a few days, we deserve this."

"I mean we have to, someone needs to plan this wedding," Julie said.

"We'll just pick out what we want and leave the actual planning to Alex and Flynn," Luke said making he chuckle.

"I love you," she said.

"Love you too," Luke said just as he lunged forward to catch one of the last demons crawling out of the rift. Julie looked around to find almost every other demon dead, the girls and Simon having joined them from where they were. She would really love to be done with today to be honest.

She heard a hiss of pain and turned around just in time to see Luke stumbilng back from the demon, his leg bleeding. She reacted within seconds, throwing her whip forward to pull the demon away, only for it to get the last word in by forcefully aiming its tail at Luke's already injured leg, making him lose his balance and fall backwards.

Right into the portal to Edom.

Just as the portal was finally closed.

Julie gasped, whip falling off her hand which flew to her mouth, her breaths uneven.

Then she screamed.

* * *

"Julie!"

"No!" she screamed as she opened her eyes and sat up, hands still shaking.

"Woah, woah, hey, Julie, are you okay? What happened?"

Julie's head snapped to her side and her breathing faltered once more when she saw Luke kneeling beside her and looking at her with worry.

She didn't even questioned it, she just lunged in his arms and hugged him as tight as she could. Her eyes had watered, she was pretty sure she was crying, but she didn't care. Not when Luke was sitting right there beside her, _safe_.

"Jules?" she heard him call her softly, as his hand rubbed her back.

She pulled back a little to be able to look at him and smiled through the tears. "You're okay," she said.

"I am," Luke reassured her even though he clearly had no idea what was going on. Not to say that Julie was a hundred percent sure, but some things were starting to make more sense. She fell back into his arms without explaining, trying to get her mind to focus on the here and now. On the fact that Luke was right there, right now.

"Jules, you're scaring me," Luke eventually said even though he hadn't let go of her.

Julie squeezed him tight one last time and pulled back. Things were going to move forward whether she wanted them or not. "I need to talk to Magnus," she said.

"About what?" Luke asked her confused.

"Whatever this is, it has to do with the spells backfiring and I need it to be over now," she said and got up.

"Julie, you just-" Isabelle started to say but Julie cut her off.

"I passed out, I know. I'm not dizzy or confused, I know where we are and what we're doing and I also know magic when I see it. We need to go right now, the demons are just around the corner."

"What demons?" Clary asked just as they heard the piercing wail.

"How did you know that?" Luke turned to look at her.

"Because I've killed that same thing twice now," she said and lashed her whip forward catching one of the creatures and squeezing until it was in pieces. Thankfully Luke didn't ask for more and jumped into the fight as well.

Julie was just as cautious as Luke had been the first time they'd done this. She knew in the back of her head that this would probably play out as it always had, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of dread as she saw him disappear into another realm. It wasn't long once again before the others arrived and before the demons were once again dead. Julie was getting tired.

"He must be somewhere close, he’s trying to keep the rift open," Magnus said. "Great work if I might add, it took us ages to find him."

"It also means more demons could be on their way, so we should probably hurry," Fuego added.

They headed the same way the demons were coming from, Julie running up to Magnus. "Something is wrong," she said. "This has already happened."

Magnus looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"This is the second time I'm reliving the same events!" she said knowing she sounded weird, but also aware that Magnus would take her at her word.

They slowed down, letting the others take the lead. "Talk me through this," he said.

"I passed out before we got to the demons for no reason and then woke up just fine. We got to the rift, we found the warlock and then your spells somehow backfired and I keep waking up at the same place I passed out before! What is happening?" she asked exasperated.

Magnus didn't look as shocked or surprised as she'd expect him to, he was more contemplating the issue. "Did the spells backfired the second time as well?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Luke fell into the rift just as you closed it and I woke up back there all over again," she added, her voice quieter. It was just not a fun memory.

"So everything resets when disaster hits..."

"I don't know!" Julie said. "I'm not testing it out either! How do I stop this? Can't you break the spell or something?"

"Julie, we're talking about a time loop here, right now there's technically not a spell yet for me to break," he said. 

"No, there very much is a spell because I know that in about five seconds we're gonna get attacked again," she said and just in time the second horde of demons was heard in the distance.

"We'll take care of the demons, just go ahead, find him," Clary said, the teams staying the same once more.

"I don't have much experience with this kind of magic, but if the spell that hit you is causing the timeline to keep rewriting itself whenever something bad happens, maybe we just have to make sure that everyone makes it out alive," he said. "It's just a theory, but it's the best I can give you right now."

"Julie, what's going on?" Luke joined her again, looking just as worried as before if not more. Well, she couldn't blame him, she was screaming internally too.

"What's going on is that I'm fixing this," she said, "and then we're going home."

"It's here!" Fuego shouted as they came upon the rift.

"We'll close it but he has to be near," Magnus said.

"No, wait," Julie stopped him. "I think you should come with us."

"I definitely can't do this on my own," Fuego said.

"You know where he is," Magnus said, a statement instead of a question. Julie nodded. They could be done with this faster and break the cycle. "Okay, you get a jump start, I'll be right back," he told Fuego. 

"How do you know where he is?" Luke asked again as he followed while everyone else stayed back to provide more backup for Fuego.

"I'll tell you everything when it's over, okay?" she said softly, squeezing his wrist reassuringly.

They walked quickly down the street and Julie pointed at one of the buildings. "There." No one questioned her, having realized that she obviously knew something more even if it didn't make sense.

They approached quietly when Magnus stopped them. "Don't get any closer, there's a spell blocking the door."

So _that's_ how he'd felt them come before. They'd tripped the imaginary wire.

Magnus moved his hands in slow, delicate motions and aimed for the invisible barrier. They were able to walk inside, but their steps still echoed and once again they were made. Luke and Julie stepped to the side to avoid the spells being thrown, Magnus careful not to cause another backfire. 

"We are taking a whole week off," Luke said as they tried to find an opening to get to the other warlock. "Let everyone else deal with the chaos for a few days, we deserve this."

"Don't say that, please," Julie said. She couldn't bear hearing the same words she had last time.

"Julie, what happened?" he asked again.

"I don't think now-" Julie started to say when the warlock moved his hands down and they were all suddenly pushed back forcefully. 

In the time it took them to catch their breath and sat up, Julie could already see him making a portal, trying to escape. She tried to get up, but Luke was on his feet before her and ran towards the warlock before he could disappear. Julie didn't even have time to react before the warlock was moving one of his hands away from the portal, using it to wrap the sparks around Luke almost like her whip. Magnus had just got up and tried to hit him to get him to free Luke. Julie was already lashing her whip forward.

It didn't really matter though because he reacted instantly pushing Luke forward through the portal.

A portal Luke had no idea where was supposed to be going.

Getting him stuck in limbo forever.

Julie held her breath and closed her eyes hoping the darkness would come again.

* * *

"Julie!"

Julie opened her eyes and sat up, determined this time.

"Woah, woah, hey, Julie, are you okay? What happened?" Luke said.

"You need to stay here," she told him.

"Stay h- Are you okay?" he asked her confused.

"Yes, but you need to stay here where you'll be _safe_ ," she said again.

"Safe from what?" he said, looking at her worried. Okay, maybe she sounded a bit frantic, she'll give him that.

"Maybe Magnus can look you over," Isabelle said.

"He did," Julie said with a sigh, rubbing her forehead. "Okay, look, long story short, I was hit by a spell and now I'm stuck reliving the same past half hour. I didn't pass out, I think my head was trying to explode because I keep coming back here."

Luke and Isabelle stared at her for a second, trying to follow her words.

"Like a checkpoint," Clary said with a nod. Everyone turned to stare at her then. "In video games there are certain parts where the game saves your progress so if you die or quit you don't have to start from the beginning again."

Julie looked at her for a second longer, blinking, but it didn't really matter because they believed her and that was enough for her. "Yes, something like that only I don't die, Luke keeps falling through portals."

"What?" Luke asked startled.

"Edom, limbo, take your pick!" Julie said with a groan, a hand going through her head. "Please stay here," she pleaded with him, feeling lost. She didn't know what else she could do and she couldn't keep going through the same thing over and over again.

"How is that even possible?" he asked even though he didn't seem to doubt her. She knew Luke would be on her side no matter what.

"Magnus was trying to take the warlock down but the spells backfired and I think it hit me somehow and now _this_ is happening. Magnus said the timeline keeps rewriting itself until it's right, so you need to stay on our realm, okay?"

"I can try," Luke said, seemingly lost.

"Okay," Julie breathed out in relief. "There are demons right around the corner by the way, but we got that."

Cue the demon screech.

And just like the previous three times they took care of that just like the others showed up.

"I'm stuck in a time loop!" she announced before everything could carry on as scheduled. There were a lot of pairs of eyes staring at her now. She tried to explain everything as fast as she could, wanting to get this over with.

"So like a checkpoint," Simon said when she was finished.

"That's what I said!" Clary said.

"So you know what happens," Kit said.

"Yes, no, it keeps changing, but the main things are the same."

"And it ends with Luke falling through portals he shouldn't," Alex said, his fingers already drumming on the side of his thigh.

"Yes, but we're fixing that because he's staying with group number one," Julie insisted.

"What's group number one?" Reggie asked.

Cue the next demon screech.

"That one," Julie said as they ran towards it. Truth is, they needed all the help they could get to take the demons down. It didn't mean that Luke and Julie had to get close to any kind of portal though.

They broke off into two groups again. The first one consisting of Julie, Luke, Clary, Isabelle and Simon while the rest of them ran towards the rift after Julie told them exactly where they'd find the warlock.

Julie almost felt calm as she fended off the demons. They were fine, they were safe. Yeah, sure, _demons_ , but other than that they were going to be okay.

Just as Simon stabbed the last of them, Luke approached her. "You're okay?" he asked.

"Me? I'm fine," Julie said, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Jules, you're the only one who actually remembers what's been happening," he said softly.

"We just need to get this over with first," she said, dismissing the matter entirely. Yes, the memory of losing Luke wasn't what she wanted to remember, but she needed to know they were done first, that they were safe.

"We need to join the others," Isabelle said.

"It's-" Julie had started to say when she felt a dull ache on her side that slowly spreaded, the pain becoming sharper, making her gasp. Someone was calling out to her, tugging her closer, asking for help.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked.

"No," Julie whispered before she took off running towards the others. She spotted Flynn on her knees, clutching her left side at the same place Julie had felt the first sting. She didn't look like she was getting back up.

Julie rushed to her, wrapping her whip around the demon close enough and flinging it to Reggie who was already waiting for her with a seraph blade in hand, letting it burst into flames. Julie didn't waste any time, kneeling next to Flynn.

"What happened?" she asked, fumbling for her stele in her pocket.

"That fucking thing stabbed me with its talons," Flynn said through gritted teeth glaring at the empty space where the demon used to be while Julie was already drawing an iratze on her neck. "Are we good? Is it over?"

Julie was just about to say _hopefully yes_ when she realized she had no idea where Luke was. Her head snapped up, looking around for him when she heard a yelp of pain. She frantically turned towards the rift and saw Alex there already falling backwards.

And really, she should have known.

She should have known that warning or no warning there was no way Luke was just going to stand back and wait for someone else to help someone he cared about.

He ran in and pulled Alex away only to slip and fall back instead.

Julie didn't scream this time.

* * *

"Julie!"

Julie was tired as she came round. And she was tired as she pushed the heels of her hands against her eyes until she was seeing white.

"Jules?" Luke's voice came again, this time softer. It was enough to make her burst into tears.

She sat up, moving her hair away from her face and looking at him, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "I don't know what to do," she whispered.

"Julie, what..." Luke moved his hand towards her, wiping a few tears away. "What's wrong?"

"Why can't I save you?" she asked, still looking at him. She didn't know if she actually expected an answer from him or the universe or she just needed to talk about this out loud to figure it out on her own.

"Save me from what?" Luke looked at her confused, but still worried. 

"I'm gonna make this work," she said.

"Julie, I don't understand-"

"I know," she cut him off. "But I'm gonna make it work."

It wasn't like there was anything else she could do. No, she had to find a way to change things. If she kept being thrown back then that must mean there was a way to fix this. 

And so she tried and she tried and she kept working the problem from a different angle.

* * *

"Julie!"

But then she woke up in the same place for the ninth time and she didn't want to get up. She was exhausted physically and mentally and she wanted to go home. She'd seen Luke fall into the nothingness enough times to know she was done. She just wanted for the spell to be over.

And why the fuck was everything working against her? Either Luke was in the wrong place in the wrong time, or someone else was and Luke swooped in to help no matter where he was and Julie couldn't bear explaining everything to everyone again.

She knew where everything was, she knew exactly when everything was gonna hit, yet every time she changed one little variable it all seemed to come apart. How was she supposed to save Luke if every time she tried the whole universe was thrown out of balance?

She couldn't predict how things were gonna turn out.

But...

She knew how things _had_ turned out...

She opened her eyes and sat up.

"Woah, woah, hey, Julie, are you okay? What happened?" Luke asked.

Julie took a deep breath, her expression turning neutral. "What happened?" she asked.

"You passed out!" Luke said, freaking out.

She played into it. She reassured them she was fine, she was just cryptic enough because she was afraid that changing even one little thing could lead to disaster and she eventually got them to get up and leave so they could find the others.

The first group of demons showed up just as planned. They got through it just as soon as the others showed up.

"He must be somewhere close, he’s trying to keep the rift open," Magnus said. "Great work if I might add, it took us ages to find him."

"It also means more demons could be on their way, so we should probably hurry," Fuego added. 

Alex and Reggie were worried about her and she tried to play it as nothing important. She would ask Magnus to look her over later.

The second group of demons appeared and they split up into the original two groups.

"It's here!" Fuego shouted when they all rounded the corner to find the rift.

"We'll close it but he has to be near," Magnus said.

They got the warlock, Magnus knocked him out, giving them the time to close the rift.

"We are taking a whole week off," Luke said, coming closer to her and keeping his blade ready. "Let everyone else deal with the chaos for a few days, we deserve this."

"I mean we have to, someone needs to plan this wedding," Julie said, the words almost too painful to get out. She didn't know what she was doing, whether it was going to work or what would 'work' actually mean in that context. Maybe she was about to do something too crazy and ruin everything.

"We'll just pick out what we want and leave the actual planning to Alex and Flynn," Luke said.

She smiled, trying to keep her eyes from watering even though he wasn't looking directly at her. "I love you," she said, willing her voice not to break. She was so close.

"Love you too," Luke said just as he lunged forward to catch one of the last demons crawling out of the rift. Julie let her whip down knowing what would happen if she used it, changing to a seraph blade hoping it'd be enough to do its work and ran forward.

She was stopped by another demon which she evaded and stabbed through the side, not even waiting for it to disappear as she rushed to Luke. She was just in time when his leg got injured sending him stumbling back, not enough to fall in yet, so she grabbed his wrist, pulling him way back and tried to stab it before it could cause any more damage. It was enough to give the demon something new to focus on which meant the tail came for her that time pushing her back just as she threw her blade right through it.

Julie felt herself falling back and for a second she almost accepted it. She could almost feel the heat of whatever there was below her, feel the dryness in the air. She could almost hear the wails and screechs of all the creatures roaming the hellish realm. She could almost feel the panic rising in her chest as her feet completely left the ground.

And then she could feel something wrapping around her waist, pulling her back. It stung, but it was nowhere close as bad as what falling into _fucking Edom_ would probably feel like. She stumbled forward and fell to the ground just as the pressure around her waist left her and she saw the familiar whip coming back to Isabelle's side.

Julie breathed out heavily and before she could even turn her head around to look at Luke, he was standing over her.

"You're okay?" he asked, looking her over frantically.

Julie sat up quickly and looked behind them, seeing the rift was closed. The rift was closed and the warlock was unconscious and Luke was standing right there in front of her asking her if she was okay.

She squealed, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around him, throwing them both down. She leaned down and kissed him with everything she had, letting her forehead rest against his when she pulled back. "Thank the Angel, you're okay," she breathed out.

"Me?" Luke asked. "You almost fell into the rift!"

"Yeah, imagine falling into unidentified portals eight times in a row," she said.

"What?" He looked at her confused.

Julie pecked his lips again and rolled over to the side, getting up. She grabbed his hand, helping him up, but he did so with a wince. She looked down at his leg which was still bleeding, granted not too much, but it still looked painful. She took her stele out, reaching up to the side of his neck and drawing an iratze at the exposed skin.

"Thanks," he said with a smile, making Julie want to grab onto him and never let him go. But first...

She turned around, looking for Isabelle who had moved closer.

"You're good?" she asked Julie.

Julie smiled and wrapped her in a hug as well. "Thank you," she whispered.

They all walked back to the Institute while Magnus and Fuego took the warlock back. Julie didn't want to use another portal for a while. She'd taken hold of Luke's hand, not willing to let him go for a while, sagging against his side, feeling exhausted after everything. Whatever adrenaline spike had kept her going was long gone by now.

She took a shower, willing herself to relax under the water for a few moments. They were fine, they'd made it through, Luke was in his room changing clothes. She _had_ to relax.

Only that was harder than expected.

She walked into Luke's room, sitting on the bed as he put his shirt on. 

"Hi," he said with a smile as he sat down beside her.

Julie smiled slightly too and leaned into his side, his arm wrapping around her. "I'm glad you're okay," she said.

"The leg?" Luke questioned. "It was nothing, it'll be fine tomorrow."

"Yeah," Julie said without elaborating.

"Come here," he said quietly, squeezing his shoulder as he pulled her back to lie next to him, her head on his chest.

"Sleeping so early?" Julie attempted to joke, even though there was something in her tone that made her wince.

"You look exhausted, Jules," he said, choosing not to comment on it because Julie was sure he'd caught it.

"I'm fine," she said but it didn't sound true even in the slightest. She wanted to sleep, but how could she?

"I feel like I'm missing something," he said, his hand finding its way through her hair.

Julie sighed, her eyes closing on their own accord. She snapped them open again, moving her head away from his hand. "Don't do that," she said quietly.

"Why are you trying to stay awake?" he asked her.

"I'm not tired."

"Julie, I can practically feel the exhaustion rolling off of you in waves. I know it was just half an hour tops, but you also passed out for no reason at all, so maybe sleep isn't such a bad idea," he said.

"I _can't_ sleep, Luke," she said again more firmly.

"Why not?" he asked softly.

Julie took a shaky breath, wrapping her arm around him tighter. "I'm scared I'll wake up back there," she whispered, her eyes tearing up.

"Back where, baby?"

Julie tried to keep it together, but just the thought of constantly losing Luke and not knowing whether she would be thrown back again or how long this would keep going for, pushed her over the edge. She cried against his chest, telling him exactly how things had gone down for her this past 'half' hour. And sure, there was always a chance of him thinking she was just too tired or too weird, but this was _Luke_. Luke who blindly trusted her, Luke who had already believed her when she'd told him what had been happening while in the time loop.

"Julie," he said quietly as he shifted so they were lying next to each other and he could look at her. "I'm so, so sorry," he said, his voice breaking a little.

"I wasn't going to say anything," she said with a sniffle.

"No! No, Julie, you-" He sighed and pulled her back against him, holding her tightly. "Are you okay?"

"No," she said with a sob, burying her face in his shoulder.

Luke kissed the top of her head, resting his head there. "You tried to take my place," he whispered.

"I didn't know how it was going to play out," she said, "but it was a big possibility."

"Julie," he gasped and she couldn't see him, but she could tell he was crying too, "no."

"I had to do something."

"Not that."

"Izzy caught me," she said even though she knew it didn't change anything. What if Izzy hadn't been there? What if she'd been too late like Julie had been the first time?

"Jules, I- I _can't_ lose you."

"I lost you eight times in a row," she whispered.

Luke brought her even closer. "I'm here," he said. "And we're both still gonna be here when you wake up."

"How do you know that?"

"Because you saved me, Jules. You always do." He kissed her head again, taking a deep breath. "You're here, we both are. And I promise you we'll be here when you open your eyes again."

His hand was in her hair again and this time she didn't pull away. Luke didn't make promises he didn't intend to keep, she knew as much. And maybe this was not exactly within his reach and they still had things to talk about in the morning, but for now she could just believe him and close her eyes.

* * *

The first thing Julie noticed when she woke up was that Luke hadn't called out her name. The second thing she realized was that she wasn't lying on the ground. And the third thing...

"Hi," Luke said, looking at her with a smile.

"Hi," Julie said, smiling back. "We're here."

"We are," he said. "You know what I've been thinking?"

"What?"

"That if there's one takeaway from this it's that the universe _really_ wants us together," he said.

Julie breathed a laugh. "I don't think the universe cares about our relationship."

"Well sure, but also like, what the fuck was that yesterday? I'll tell you what. Proof that we're meant to be."

"We should thank Flynn then. The LA Institute was her idea solely, I was seconds away from staying home even when Max was making the portal for us."

"The fact that we had to wait so long to meet, pains me."

"Well, if you think the universe wants us together then maybe we met each other when we were supposed to," she said with a small smile.

Luke smiled that bright smile of his causing something warm to spread inside Julie's chest. "You feel better?" he asked her.

"I think so..." Julie said. "It's nice to wake up here."

"You know, we have time off now, we can do something with it," he said.

"We have? We haven't requested it yet," Julie said.

"I dare anyone to try and say no," Luke said trying to appear serious, but eventually only worked to make Julie chuckle. He looked like a stubborn puppy. "Do you want to go get some breakfast? The others are going to leave in a while. Or we can just stay here, that works too."

"No, we should go. I want to see everyone before they leave," she said. "Then we can plan our time off."

"Yes, vacation!"

Julie chuckled and sat up. They changed clothes and went downstairs to join the others. It seemed like they were the only ones who had slept in - even Alex had already come over to see the guys before they left - but it'd been well deserved. They all sat down, eating breakfast and making small talk, giviing Julie feel that sense of normalcy she needed.

"I'm sorry, _sixth_?" Jace did a double take. They'd been talking about the last time Alec and Magnus had been there to help with the Caleb situation. Somehow it was mentioned how Magnus had referred to Jace as his sixth favorite Shadowhunter.

"Be happy you're in the list," Alec said.

"How did I get sixth? How does the list go?" he insisted.

"Well, first there's Rafe and Alexander," Magnus said, not missing a beat.

"Son and husband, I'll allow it," Jace said.

"Then there's biscuit," Magnus continued, smiling at Clary across the table.

"Okay, you've known her since she was a baby, sure," Jace agreed.

"Isabelle..."

Jace turned to Izzy who looked at him with a raised eyebrow, daring him to say something.

"Sure..." he conceded.

"And Simon."

" _Simon_?" Jace had an incredulous expression. "I come _after_ _Simon_?"

"Thanks, dude." Simon grinned at Jace.

"You couldn't even remember his name when we first met you!" Jace continued.

"Don't flatter yourself, I didn't remember any of your names other than Alec and Clary," Magnus said making Julie chuckle.

"I like to think that we bonded during my vampire years..." Simon said.

"You were a vampire for five months," Clary interjected.

"Well it felt like _years_ ," Simon said.

"I am shocked and appalled," Jace said, shaking his head.

"You'll get over it," Alec said, "so, any news that are not going to feed Jace's ego?" He turned to Julie and the others.

"Okay, so, you were the Consul so you should know," Luke jumped on the opportunity. "How illegal is it exactly if mundanes accidentally find out about the Shadow World because we did something?"

"Oh God..." Alex muttered on his other side.

"Very, why?" Alec asked.

"Right... So, becoming a successful band that goes beyond the few Shadowhunters and or Downworlders that come around is out of the question?" Luke continued, taking a sip of his coffee.

"You guys have a band? That's so cool," Simon said. "I used to be in a band when I was a mundane."

Luke started choking on the coffee. Julie had seen it coming before it'd even happened.

"I'm sorry," he said with a cough, trying to clear his throat, "what?"

"Yeah, I played the bass," he said, still not understanding how he'd just become Luke's favorite person.

"Oh, that's cool, me too!" Reggie said, cheerful as always.

"I think I might cry," Luke said, still staring at Simon.

"We have to hear you play before we go," he said.

"Can _you_ be my suggenes?" Luke said.

"I will literally cut your guitar strings," Alex said.

"I will do something less extreme, but equally as devastating," Reggie added.

"This is not what supportive friends do," Luke said.

"We started out supportive, now we're just tired," Alex said.

"Can we go back to what he said about wanting to hear us play?" Luke dismissed the matter entirely turning back to Simon.

"We still have time before we absolutely need to go," Isabelle said with a smile.

"Can we eat first? I know you operate on some kind of magical musical energy all day long, but some of us need their time," Carrie said.

Julie chuckled as she leaned into Luke's side. He instinctively wrapped his arm around her waist, keeping her close. She loved mornings like this where everything just seemed to flow casually around them, just small talk and banter. She still had some kind of residual anxiety from last night and she knew it would take a while until she was back to normal, but it was okay. Luke was there and they had time off and a wedding she was really looking forward to to plan.

They were in the here and now and that was what was important. They were going to be okay.


End file.
